world of men's style / fashion / grooming

An UrbanDaddy Publication

Twice a year, in six cities, menswear designers, buyers, editorialists and enthusiasts flock to the tailored temple of Capsule Show. Yesterday, the leather-bound steamer trunks and garment bags arrived in droves at New York’s South Street, chock-full of new collections for SS14.

Naturally, Team Kempt hit the pavement (or, you know, carpeted warehouse) of Pier 36 in the name of trend spotting and lesson learning. With over 250 brands in attendance, we thought it best to provide a bit of a highlight reel for our loyal followers.

The 113th US Open went off this weekend, and it had us pining for the glory days of golf fashion. Back when the hair was feathered, the caps were newsboy and the prints were bold.

The ostentatious culture peaked around the time of Caddyshack, but thankfully, some pieces have remained steadfast. Most notably, madras.

The fabric is lightweight, easy to maintain and stays sharp when traditional suiting would fold under wrinkle-inducing humidity. So versatile, you can pretty much find any garment rocking its signature tartans. Hence, we went ahead and found all the gear necessary to don you from head to toe.

When it comes to shorts, we’ve always been of the mind that if you’re going for it, you have permission to get loud. (With the caveat: not at the office.)

And until recently, your only options were of the plaid or embroidered-critter variety meant for rebellious trads. But this season has seen more new patterned shorts on the market than perhaps ever. Stripes, ikat, paisley, liberty and batik prints. There are a lot more ways to get tastefully loud these days (which means you’ll want to outfit the rest of your body in a solid-color oxford cloth button-down, pocket tee or polo shirt—for the sake of everyone’s retinas, keep it to one pattern). So we rounded up our favorites of the bunch, to get you ready for the season.

One of the more interesting booths at (capsule) had surprisingly little to do with clothing. Shockingly enough, this one has to do with newsprint.

The booth in question belonged to Staple, a clothing line and design firm that’s best known as the owner of the Lower East Side boutique Reed Space. But this month they’re branching out even farther, with a quarterly called Reed Pages. It’s all interviews and editorial spreads so far, but the highlight might be in their innovative approach to advertising. Called “sponsorship,” each ad consists of the brand’s logo printed an inch high in the middle of a huge blank page. It’s branding at its purest: no models, no pictures and no elegantly worded slogans.